Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Tuesday spoke to the captain of the Afghanistan international cricket team Rashid Khan on video call and congratulated the team for qualifying the semi-finals of the ongoing T20 World Cup for the first time.
"The country's Foreign Minister, Mr. Amir Khan Muttaqi, congratulated team captain Rashid Khan on the Afghan heroes' qualification for the World Cup semi-finals and wished the team further victories," the Afghanistan Cricket Board wrote along with the telephonic conversation of the leader and the cricketer.
In a historic win, Afghanistan knocked down Bangladesh in a nail-biting match, thereby making it to the semi-finals of a T 20 or ODI World Cup, a first for the Afghans.
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It was the last match of the Super 8s of the T 20 segment. Afghanistan batted first and made 115/5. However, due to rain, the target for Bangladesh was reduced to 114 in 19 overs on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method. Scripting history for their country, Afghanistan bowled Bangladesh all out for 105 in 17.5 overs.
Skipper Rashid Khan and Naveen-ul-Haq took four wickets each in the match against Bangladesh in the June 25 match.
Due to this eight-run victory, Afghanistan also knocked-out Australia, whose hopes to remain in the race were dangling on Bangladesh's win.
Earlier on Monday, India defeated Australia by 24 runs in St Lucia, which left the 2021 champions dependent on Bangladesh's victory to qualify further.
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